Automobile.



A. S. KROTZ.

AUTOMOBILE.

APPLIGATION rILBD DBO. 1e, 1908.

LQQBQQ?, Patented Oct. 8, 1912.

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ful Improvements in Automobiles, of which i the fol owing is a specification.

@ne of the objects of the invention is to in a chain-driven car, or strut.

A general object is to provide a trans-- mission or drive which shall be obviate the necessity(i noise are reduced to a minimum.

The invention also relates to the other :iinn l provements and advantageous features of construction herein shown and described,

ln the accompan ing drawings Figure l;

vehicle springs. Fig. el is a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 3.

That embodiment of my invention which yis herein illustrated comprises a chassis having longitudinal sills l 2 indicating the rear axle, 3 the drive shaft, and l the engine. I have herein shown a frictional driving.;` connection between the engine and `the drive shaft com rising the engine fly-wheel or friction dis i 5, and a friction wheel 6 mounted upon the shaft 3, said friction Wheel be l ing arranged for peripheral contact with the face of the frictionA disk 5. The friction wheel 6 may be moved longitudinally of the shaft 3 to obtain various speeds forward and backward in the customary way, such means not being illustrated, as it forms no part of the present invention.

The engine herein shown comprises two opposed cylinders 4 arranged transversely of the chassis. l preferably support the engine by means of brackets 7 secured to the sills l and pivotally connected with the outer ends of the cylinders 4l, and a hanger 8 supportin the bearing 9 of the engine shaft and a justably connected with a cross bar 10 of the chassis. lt will thus be seen that the engine has a three-point support in the chassis, and that by adj usting' the hanger 8, the engine may be positioned so that the 5 axis of the engine shaft intersects the axis i `311cornea-tion 'mi Lettera lintent.A appliontionvmcd December i503. Serial No. tto'.

flexible l enough to accommodate itself to sudden1 strains and shocks, whereby breakage and i Patented Det. 3, 391m.

off-tho drive shaft This manner of supporting the engine obviates the necessit for extreme nicety in thel manufacture of engine supports or in mounting the engine on car.

The fly-wheel 5 may be faced with a movable weer plate 1l of suitable material, the preferred material being cold-rolled aluminum. The plate 11 is secured to the fly-wheel 5 by means of screws l2. lt will be seen that said wear plate may be 're-- moved and reversed, or a new plate substituted for it, at slight expense of time and labor.

The drive shaft 3 'is herein represented as suspended from the longitudinal sills l by means of bearing members 13 hinged at 14; to hangers lt'fnced to said sills. The means just described for supporting the shaft 3 permits of moving sald shaft into and out of driving connection with the ily-Wheel The means herein shown for thus moving tlie'shaft 3 comprises a crank arm lG pivot ally mounted on the chassis and connected to the lower end of one of the bearing members 1S by means of a link 17. Preferably a crank arm 1G and a link 17 are provided for each end of the shaft 3, the crank arms being fixed with relation to each other. Connected with the crank arms 16 is suitable ccntrolling means, such as a foot-lever 18 fixed with relation to said crank arms and carrying a detent 19 adapted to engage a segment 20.

lhe chassis is supported upon the axles in any suitable way, as by means of springs 28, only one of which springs is shown 1n the drawing. The spring 28, in this instance, is of elliptical forni, the lower half being rigidly secured to the axle 2 and the upper half being firmly connected to the adjacent sill l. Fixed in any suitable way with relation to cach drive wheel is a sprocket wheel 29 that carries a drive chain B0 extending over the sprocket wheel 3l mounted upon and suitably connected with the drive shaft 3. Fixed to and projecting outwardly from the sill l, near the forward end of the spring 28, is a stud 32 which may have a suitable yielding' covering 33 (Fig. li). The .stud 32 is in position to overlie and to come in contact with the forward end of the spring 28 and thereby limit the upward movement of the forward end of said spring, and consequently the forward move- Btl ' of the vehicle. lt will thus be seen'that the forward halt of the'lower portion of the spring 28 serves' as a radius rod to hold the drive shaft 3 and the axle 2 at the pro er distance apart. lt will be understood t at the spring 28, whilel eyciently serving as a radius rod, possesses important advantages over such rods, inasmuch as being more dexible, it is better able to withstand severe stressesv without breakage, and will not in contact with said connected ends, but unrattle.

' lin order to permit of taking np excessive slack the operative position of the shaft 3' may be shifted forwardly by means of the foot lever 18. To this end, the y-wheel `5 may be formed in two sections 5 and 5b, the section 5fL being madeadjustable toward and away from the 'section 5b by any suitable means (not shown) to correspond with the altered forward position of the shaft 3.

- 1t will be understood that various changes maybe made in the embodiment shown and described withontdeparting from the spirit of the invention. l therefore desire not t0 be limited to the details of 'construction herein set forth. v .Some of the structure herein disclosed is claimed in a divisional application, Serial No. 535,220, led December 27, 1909.

chassis; a driving axle; operatively con-- nected with saidV driving means; a spring comprising two portions, the lower portion being connected with said axle, the'other portion being connected with said chassis, and' adjacent' ends of said portions being connected together; and a member rigidly iixed on said chassis and -arranged'tocome connected with said ends, for limiting upward movement of sald connectedends. t

. 2. ln an automobile, the combination with a chassis, of `driving means carried by said'v chassis; a driving axle operatively connected Iwith said driving means; a spring comprising twoportions, thelower portion bein connected with said axle, the other portion being rigidly' connected with said chassis; and adjacent ends of saidportions I beingl connected together, and a stop rigidly hired to and projecting outwardly. romsaid chassis in position to overlie and to come in contact, with said connected ends.

ALVAR S. M QUTZ Witnesses:

W'An'rnn L. Henson, Grenen L. CnrN'nAnL. 

